Sunday, May 02, 2010

Upon Equality

May Day. Stockholm, yesterday.

Good weather, great company, a lot of people and a huge message.

The fact that we "must" demonstrate, means that equality as a human right is not a general view, there is a conflict between the importance and current situation. In the picture, some of the demostrants of the Left Party, and the banner in the left says profitability against community. Although Sweden is one of the most equal countries in the world, we have had in recent years the right-wing party in government and the views if Sweden really is an equal country mension that good, are apparently different. Since we are about to vote again very soon, our biggest party, the Social Democrats was also mostly yelling against the incumbent government in its demonstration walk.

Why we need more equal communities was proved with the book The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, that came out last year. List below is from the homepage of The Equality Trust.

1) In rich countries, a smaller gap between rich and poor means a happier, healthier, and more successful population. Just look at the US, the UK, Portugal, and New Zealand in the top right of this graph, doing much worse than Japan, Sweden or Norway in the bottom left.

2) Meanwhile, more economic growth will NOT lead to a happier, healthier, or more successful population. In fact, there is no relation between income per head and social well-being in rich countries.

3) If the UK were more equal, we'd be better off as a population. For example, the evidence suggests that if we halved inequality here:

  • Murder rates would halve

  • Mental illness would reduce by two thirds

  • Obesity would halve

  • Imprisonment would reduce by 80%

  • Teen births would reduce by 80%

  • Levels of trust would increase by 85%

4) It's not just poor people who do better. The evidence suggests people all the way up would benefit, although it's true that the poorest would gain the most.

5) These findings hold true, whether you look across developed nations, or across the 50 states of the USA. ´

- The Equalily Trust.

Ending this post with an interview with the authors to the book The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone seen in YouTube.


No comments:

Post a Comment